Swingsets
by S. Cordell
Summary: A timeline of sorts, of David and Azimio's friendship from the time they meet.  Rated M for future chapters  language, child abuse, drinking, and drug use .
1. Third Grade

**Hi guys—I'm already working on other chapters for this one. I'm super excited about it, so I hope y'all like it, read and review! Thanks for reading! Xx- Sierra**

David wanders through stacks of tall brown boxes, looking for his mother. Behind one, he spots a flash of red. He hurries towards the box the box that it disappeared behind, and when he runs into his mother, he bounces back a little. "Mom!" he says, tugging on her red dress. "Could I go to the park and play?" He follows her into the kitchen where she puts a stack of plates into the cabinet.

"I don't know, Davey… I'm awful busy getting us unpacked, and your daddy won't want to take you," she drums her fingers on the counter regretfully. David is too young to realize it but his mother is beautiful. Her blonde hair is curled just so, and her red lips match her dress perfectly. Coming from the south, she takes a great pride in her appearance. She continues to put glassware into cabinets, not giving David a straight answer.

This is the third time they've moved since David was born 9 years ago. However, their new home in Lima is the first one that they can comfortably live in. This is the first neighborhood they can be safe in, and the first house that David likes.

David waits a little while, looking at the white tiled kitchen floor. "But mom…" he drags her name out into five syllables. He's visibly disappointed. "Mom, I really want to go play!"

His mother puts her hand to her head, massaging her temples. "Davey, I'm sorry but I can't take you right now. Go up to your room and play with the GameBoy grandma Mimi got you."

David nods, smiling. He likes his mom's voice better than his dad's. His dad always sounds angry about something, but his mom's southern accent is the opposite. "Okay, mom," he concedes. When he's sure she's focused on putting something else away, he slides open the back door and walks around to the front. He waits until his dad goes back inside with another box before he darts down the street, to the park he saw when they drove up. When he gets there, he sees only three other kids playing tag. The women who are presumably their mothers are sitting on a long green bench talking to each other over iced coffee. David walks towards the three boys, hoping it'll be easy to make friends in this place. One of them, a boy who is unbelievably skinny, looks up first. He nudges his friends.

"Hi, I'm David," he introduces himself to the trio. "I just moved here from Nebraska."

The boys don't say a word until the one furthest from David, a chubby black boy, speaks up. "I'm Azimio Adams," he says with a nod. The skinny boy next to him says his name is Tyler Kippard, and the third boy, someone tall for their age, introduces himself as Travis Price.

Azimio motions for David to start to play with them, and he does. The time passes quickly, and none of the boys even notice when the moms start to migrate towards them. "Honey who's this?" David's head jerks around at the sound of his mom's southern voice, but it isn't his mom standing next to him. It's Azimio's mom.

"Momma, this is David. He just moved here from, um, Nebraska." He glances towards David, silently checking his facts.

"Well hello, David! I'm Azimio's momma, but you go on ahead and call me Sherry, okay?" She puts one hand on Azimio's shoulder. "Where is your momma, David?" she looks around to make sure she hasn't overlooked someone.

"Oh! I walked here by myself ma'am!" he looks over his shoulder, towards his street. "I don't live to far from here so it's okay though."

Both Travis and Tyler's moms have already taken them by the hand, leading their children home. Now it's only the three of them left standing in the grass. Sherry bites her lip, like she doesn't know what to do, so David reassures her. "Really, ma'am, I'm okay. I'll walk on home now."

"David, child, would you like a ride home from us? We really don't mind it," she asks, her voice growing with concern.

"No ma'am, I don't mind walking. Thank you for the offer though." David knows enough to not accept rides from people he doesn't know, even if she seems like the nicest lady, only next to his own mom. Without another word, he starts his walk back home, but Sherry calls out after him.

"Baby, at least let us walk with you," she offers, pulling on her own son's hand. The three of them start up to David's new house.

"So where in Nebraska did you live, sweetie?" Sherry asks, trying to start a conversation. Both boys ignore her, though, carrying a whole other conversation of their own.

"You like Pokémon?" David asks Azimio.

"Yeah! It's on channel 3 at 4 o clock here. I watch it every day. You should come over some time to watch it!"

David smiles excitedly. This is the first time he's ever had something to brag about—the first time he's not too poor to have something fun. "I just got the new GameBoy Advance, and I have Pokémon Sapphire to play. You should come see it!"

* * *

><p>All four boys – Tyler, Azimo, Travis and David—are in the same class. Mrs. Morris, their teacher, seats them all in a square. They spend the entire year bonding over Pokémon. David helps the boys with their times tables, and they help him meet all of his classmates and make more friends. By the end of the year, it's established: David, Azimo, Travis and Tyler are the 'cool kids' (if such a thing exists in third grade), along with Quinn Fabray, Brittany Pierce and Santana Lopez. The boys enter the summer with great excitement for the years to come.<p> 


	2. Fifth Grade

**Fifth grade for David and Azimio now.. Thanks for reading! Super excited to keep going with this y'all. Xx Sierra**

"Are you doing football this year?" David asks his friend, Azimio, as they bike towards the park. They're supposed to meet Tyler and Travis there to play soccer for a little while. "My dad really wants me to do it, and you know how he is!"

Azimo pedals faster, flying past his friend in a blur. "Yeah man!" he shouts over his shoulder, "I already had my momma fill out the form! You better do it too!" He squeezes his breaks hard as he skids up at the park entrance, almost causing David to rear-end him.

"I guess I'll do it. It's going to be pretty fun, dude," David says, pushing his kickstand down. Tyler and Travis are already kicking the ball around in the same field that David met them two years ago. They hop off their bikes and join in the game. It's kind of chilly out, unusual for the third week of school, so the boys are all wearing light jackets over their t-shirts.

David has just scored a goal when some kids walk up. They're older than the boys are, definitely high school kids. One of them is smoking something, and he passes it to one of his friends. Travis leans towards David and whispers "That's weed. I've seen my older brother smoke it. It's a drug." He sounds scandalized.

The older boys say something to each other, bursting out in laughter. They go sit on the swings at the playground, pushing each other around and passing the weed around every so often. One boy drops it and stomps it out. The four younger kids can't stop watching them. They're entranced by the sheer coolness of it. They say something, motioning to the kids and laughing. One of them stands, and walks to where Azimio is standing, awestruck.

"What are you looking at, nigga?" he says loudly, turning towards his friends on the swings. "You never seen kids smoke a joint before?"

Azimio looks at the ground, unusually silent. The older boy starts in again. "I said… what are you looking at, nigga?"

David's never heard that word before. He doesn't quite understand why Azimio has gotten so quiet. Since his friend can't seem to speak up, he decides to. "Hey, you wanna leave us alone?" he jumps in.

"I believe I was talking to your little nigger friend here, you chubby fuck," he responds, pushing Azimio's shoulder. "Are you deaf? I fucking asked what you were looking at."

David does know that word. He's head his dad use it before. _Fuck_. It rolls in his brain, trying to connect with a meaning. It's an angry word, that he does know. "Azimio, let's go…" he suggests, trying to minimize interaction with these boys. Tyler yanks on David's shirt.

"David, stop," he hisses. "This isn't our business."

Azimio finally looks up, a fresh kind of anger on his face. "What did you call me?" David's never seen him look like this. It's almost scary, to see this kind of a look on his friend's face.

The older boy turns to his friends again, laughing louder than before. One of the others walks over, with another joint in his hand. He takes a long pull from it and hands it over to his friend. He's shorter, just barely taller than Azimio. "I think my friend here called you a nigger, boy." He takes another step towards Azimio.

"Azimio, seriously… let's go," David says, glancing at Travis for help. He doesn't like the feeling of the situation. The boys back away towards where they parked their bikes, not daring to turn their backs. When David feels the rubber tire bump on the back of his knees, he finally turns around. They take off quickly, not daring to look back. The last thing they hear is one of the boys yell out "Next time, nigger, next time."

They only stop pedaling when they get to Tyler's front yard. They go around back and sit on the porch. David notices that Azimio still looks angry. Tyler runs in, and comes back out with his older brother. David looks up at him and asks the question he's been wondering this whole time. "Ian, what does nigger mean?"

Ian's facial expression grows serious. He glances at Azimio and bites his lip. "Who said it?" Tyler explains what happened, and Ian looks almost as angry as Azimio did. "What did they look like?"

Tyler describes the two boys who had come close enough for them to notice, and Ian shakes his head. "I know them, unfortunately. If they bother you again, come get me." Ian plays soccer and he works out almost all the time. He turns to Azimio, and lowers his voice. "You know what it means, don't you?" Azimio nods and David asks again what it means. "It's a really bad name for a black person, David. It's a bad word," Ian explains.

After a little while, Azimio and David leave to go home for dinner. They bike in silence, going the long way home so they don't have to go past the park. They bike in silence. Azimio stops suddenly, about a block away from his house. "Dave…" David looks at him in concern, and lets him get his thoughts together. They sit down on the curb. "I've heard the word before; I understand what it means but… I've never had somebody call _me…"_

David interrupts him. "Azimio, who cares what they say? They're idiots. C'mon, dude. You're awesome. Why would anybody say something about your… skin color anyway? Why does it matter?" He's genuinely confused.

Azimio looks at him like he's stupid. "Haven't you heard of racism, man? People do care about skin color. They care enough to call people like me names, and hurt us. Grow up!" He shakes his head, standing back up to get on his bike.

David grabs his wrist. "They're wrong though," he says, still confused. He gets back on his own bike, and starts to pedal back home. "I'll see you at school tomorrow. Remember, if you see those guys again, tell Ian."

* * *

><p>The next day, Azimio and David both tried out for football at their school. It was an intermural thing, but it would give them a special try out for middle school football the next year. Football was the first time David really felt included somewhere, since he had moved around so much. It was really the first time anyone had made him feel special, aside from his own mother. Through the rest of the year, David and Azimio won every football game, and hung out with other guys from the team at the park. Ian never had to come up against the older guys, because David and Azimio never saw them again. David found himself highly sensitive to words like the n-word, after that. Even though this was the first time he experienced racism, it most certainly wasn't the last.<p> 


End file.
